i Do, i Share and i Learn: November 2018

Friday, November 16, 2018

How To Be a Great Leader

"When we get the environment right, humans will do remarkable things."

"We are social animals. Our happiness, our joy, our success, everything is dependent on our relationships. We respond to the environments we are in. You can take a good person, and put him in a bad environment and he'll be capable of doing bad things. Likewise, you can take a person or a group and even society has given up on, and you put them in a good environment, and they are capable of turning their lives around, and really make something remarkable out of themselves. We are social animals and we respond to the environment we are in. Leaders are responsible for building that environment. If you create an environment in which people feel safe amongst their own, we will naturally, the natural human response to those conditions, is trust and corporation. Trust and corporations are feelings. They are not instructions. There is no powerpoint and pitch deck you can give, and at the end someone will trust you. You can't tell somebody: "Trust me". It does not work that way. They are feelings. Likewise, if you create an environment where we fear each other, fear the people we work with, the natural human reaction to that environment, is paranoia, cynicism, mistrust and self interest. That's what happens. There is enough danger outside the organization, there is enough stuff going on outside that we should have to fear the people we work with, or fear our own leaders. Most leaders don't get this. Most leaders think leadership is being in charge. No, it's not. It's about taking care of those in your charge. Most leaders think everybody works for them. No. You work for the people in your organization. It is your responsibility to take care of them, make them feel safe and they would naturally want to corporate, work hard, and give you their blood, sweat and tears to advance your vision. All they ask is that you take care of them, make them feel valued and valuable and the rest takes care of itself. "